In the case of oil spills, particularly when oil breaks out in an offshore region, the open sea as well as the shores are threatened with extensive contamination. The removal, of course, is very expensive.
In the fight against oil spills at the present time, oil-collecting ships in the form of catamarans are used; however, they only have a very limited effectiveness and width. Moreover, ships of this type cannot be used for any other purpose and, in addition, they represent unemployed capital during the time they are not used for oil spills in the offshore region.
Further, in the fight against oil spills, so-called skimmers are used which skim the oil by means of rotating drums. Other examples are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,753,496, issued Aug. 21, 1973, and 3,853,767, issued Dec. 10, 1974. Such skimmers operate within oil barriers which have been formed by means of floating bodies which have been joined together in a row. It is said that these oil barriers have numerous disadvantages. First, they do not have a very deep draft so that the oil can pass underneath them when the waves are high; also, they do not project very far beyond the water surface so that there is the danger that oil will be washed over them. In addition, these oil barriers must be towed by additional tugboats.